Tag Archives: Militia

Turkey on Monday intensified its offensive against Kurdish militia targets in Syria as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed there would be no stepping back in a campaign that has stoked concern among Ankara’s allies and neighbours. The Turkish military on Saturday launched operation “Olive Branch”, its second major incursion into Syrian territory during the seven-year civil war. The operation, where Turkish war planes and artillery are backing a major ground incursion launched with Ankara-backed Syrian rebels and Turkish tanks, aims to oust the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia from its enclave of Afrin.

Turkey on Saturday launched a new air and ground operation to oust a Kurdish militia from their northern Syrian enclave, defying US warnings that the action risked further destabilising the area after almost seven years of civil war. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had repeatedly vowed that Turkey would root out the “nests of terror” in Syria of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia which Turkey deems a terror organisation. Turkey’s army said operation “Olive Branch” began at 1400 GMT and was aimed at the YPG and Islamic State (IS) jihadists.

The Turkish army said it launched new strikes Saturday against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia in northern Syria, amid mounting expectations of a cross-border ground operation. The army said it hit in “legitimate self defence” camps and refuges used by the YPG in response to fire coming from the Afrin region controlled by the militia group, which Turkey deems to be a terror organisation. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened over the last days to launch a ground operation, also including pro-Ankara Syrian rebels, to oust the YPG from Afrin and the area.

Turkey on Friday started fresh shelling of the Syrian town of Afrin in a move to oust a US-backed Kurdish militia that Ankara considers “terrorists” and vowed to press on with a full-scale operation against them. The Turkish government has repeatedly warned it will strike Syrian towns controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, including Afrin, after the US said it was training a 30,000-strong border force there. “The Afrin operation will take place,” Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli told A Haber television.

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey needed to clear the Afrin region of northwest Syria of Kurdish YPG militia fighters, who have been in the forefront of the battle there against Islamic State insurgents. Erdogan, speaking in Ankara to officials from the ruling AK Party, also expressed disappointment with the United States, which backs the YPG. Ankara views the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

Two UN investigators killed in March likely died at the hands of Congolese militia members, a UN inquiry found, adding that further investigation will be required to “fully ascertain the identity” of those involved. Michael Sharp, an American, and Zaida Catalan, a Swedish-Chilean dual national, were found murdered in March in the Democratic Republic of Congo while on a UN mission investigating violence and mass graves in the country’s restive Kasai province. “A group of Congolese, likely militia members from the Kasai Central province, was responsible,” read the board’s executive summary, obtained Wednesday by AFP.

Heavily-armed men in camouflage clothing and tactical gear have been filmed marching through the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, ahead of a planned white nationalist rally. The militia group was seen carrying military-style assault rifles with telescope sights and spare magazines, protective helmets, radios and knives. Terry McAuliffe, Virginia’s Democratic governor, has placed the National Guard on standby for the “unite the right” rally on Saturday.

BAGHDAD (AP) — A powerful Iraqi Shiite militia said Tuesday that at least 40 of its militiamen were killed in an attack the previous day on its positions across the border in Syria. The militia blamed the U.S.-led coalition for the assault but the Islamic State group claimed its fighters had targeted the militiamen.

BAGHDAD (AP) — A powerful Iraqi Shiite militia said Tuesday that at least 40 of its militiamen were killed in an attack the previous day on its positions across the border in Syria. The militia blamed the U.S.-led coalition for the assault but the Islamic State group claimed its fighters had targeted the militiamen.

A Republican state senator is facing a wave of criticism after he appeared in a photo with heavily armed members of an anti-government group during a rally in Georgia on Saturday opposing the Islamic legal and moral code.